Welcome to Fairmondo

Fairmondo is the project to create a global online-marketplace - owned by its local users. This will be realized through a network of autonomous local co-operatives in every country that joins in. The first of these was founded in Germany in December 2012.

We are now working on internationalisation. If you want to be updated on the progress, or if you have suggestions or want to get involved, please send an email to: global@fairmondo.com

Fair & democratic business

With Fairmondo we seek to rethink and redo the way e-commerce works. As a network of local co-operatives, Fairmondo is committed to straight forward principles of fairness. Each local co-operative inscribes these principles inviolably into its statutes. These principles include:

Democratic ownership open to all stakeholders affected by the business. The minimum share for joining the co-operative must be limited to an affordable amount relative to local purchasing power. Democratic control is guaranteed through the one-member-one-vote principle.

An uncompromising commitment to transparency, limited only by the legal requirements of the respective jurisdiction.

Fair terms of collaboration with external and internal stakeholders (partners, staff etc.). The latter includes a defined maximum salary range that may not extend a ratio of 1 to 7.

Independence of individual vested interests, in particular the prohibition of larger financial investments by individuals or non-co-operative organisations.

Clearly defined use of surplus. In case that dividends are paid, broad participation and avoidance of redistribution of larger amounts to individuals must be ensured. At least 25% of all extracted surplus must be contributed to the common fund for the further development of the project.

A binding commitment to a democratic organisational culture. At least 50% of the executive board must be elected by the employees of the co-operative.

A binding commitment to open source & open innovation. In particular, the code of the platform must be published under a license that ensures publication of any further developments of the code.

A binding commitment to the promotion of responsible consumption.

Current state of the project

The project has been started with the first local co-operative in Germany in December 2012. As of December 2015, over 2000 members have invested about 600.000 Euros in shares. The german co-operative is run by 12 part- and full-time members of the core team, including an executive board of 2 members, and is controlled by a 7-member supervisory board elected by co-op members.

In September 2013, the german online-marketplace was launched. Since, it has been further developed and used by a core community of ca. 12,000 users, in order to bring it to a state where it can compete with established e-commerce businesses. As of December 2015, it offers over 2 million products, including a largely complete range in the section of German-language books and a wide variety of high quality, fair-trade, and sustainably produced products throughout most categories.

As of today, the market-place is accessible in German language at www.fairmondo.de.

International scaling

Based on the model in Germany, the marketplace will be launched in other countries and languages. This will happen through the creation of autonomous local co-operative in each new country, run by a local team and owned by its local stakeholders.

If you are interested in getting involved with the creation of a local fairmondo co-operative in your country, as founding-member, partner or other type of supporter, please contact global@fairmondo.com.

Global framework

The internationalization will be supported by a global framework organisation, which eventually will be co-owned by the local co-operatives, once 5 or more of them exist and run sustainably. The global framework organisation will be responsible for ensuring that all local coops respect the outlined principles and support the co-operation among the them, in particular the collaborative development of the common code base.

If you are interested in contributing to the setup of the global framework organisation, please contact global@fairmondo.com.